Kim Wierman

Give it. Live it. Gratitude. That is the motto the Waves of Gratitude team has adopted to remind ourselves to find the gratitude every day and in every situation. Our story is not unique, but our approach to it was to live in gratitude even when our situations are less than perfect.

Here is our story...

Over 40 and Redefining Unemployment through EntrepreneurshipHow 3 Women Took the Chance of A Lifetime

Cheryl Nordyke is no stranger to adventure when it comes to her employment. Nearly 10 years ago, after going through a divorce and losing the grandmother who raised her, she and her 5 year old daughter packed the moving van and made the trek from Southern Califo ia to New England to start a new job and a new life.

The job was one for which she was recruited. As a customer of the Massachusetts-based software company for 4 years prior to the move, she knew the product and knew she could sell it. So with a cut in pay, but the promise of big earnings if she worked hard she started fresh.

It didn’t take long for Cheryl to reap the benefits of what she sowed. The first year with the company and the nine years that followed, she was the top producer, bringing in more than 15 million in upfront sales revenue and countless ongoing revenue in monthly support fees, add-ons and the like. So it came as a shock when her employer eliminated her job as New Business Development Director. She, for the first time since she started working at the age of 17 was unemployed.

Unemployment rates during the last 20 years have gone up and down as this country watched the dot.com-era boom fall to recession and slowly recover, only to see a country wage a war it couldn’t afford. During all of this, Cheryl and others just like her have had to adjust. But adjusting and coping were not enough for Cheryl. What made her successful in sales was her different outlook and approach to problem-solving and it’s what has turned her unemployed status to one of entrepreneur.

During her time at the company, Cheryl was able to help long-time friend from Califo ia, Carrin Torres also get consulting work in the finance department at the same software company for which Cheryl worked. When that ended, Carrin went back to being a stay at home mom in a struggling marriage. When the marriage ended, Carrin was in the position of looking for work. That work turned out to be much less than she needed to support four children; not only the future looked bleak, but everyday life. This issue of under employment is as much of a financial shock to families as unemployment.

Faced with a job search that could take months to land at her previous mid-six figure salary, Cheryl took a chance. She put all of her life savings and retirement account on the line and decided if she can make a good living for someone else, then she could certainly do the same for herself.

Teaming Up

While working at the software company, Cheryl met Kim Wierman. Kim was re-entering the workforce full time after spending 12 years at home raising three sons. Her husband’s health issues and the high cost of his company’s health insurance had Kim looking for a job with good benefits, but one that would allow her time with her family. She thought she’d found the ideal situation. She was able to cross train for several weeks to build skills and confidence after having been far removed from corporate life for more than a decade. The marketing job turned out to be more than she expected, but she welcomed the opportunity and worked hard to reach goals set by the company. That hard work ultimately did not pay off and her job was also eliminated. In its place a managerial job with the same description was created. Kim was offered neither the job nor any other at the company and found she also involuntarily unemployed. Just three weeks later, her husband died suddenly of a heart attack and she was faced with being the sole provider for her family.

The expression, “Success is when preparation meets opportunity,” rang true with this trio. In the years before moving east, Cheryl and Carrin had dreamed of becoming writers and had started their book of new reflections on everyday situations. Cheryl was able to the introduce Kim and Carrin and the three went on to finish the book.

In the search for a reminder to be grateful Cheryl, Carrin and Kim decided they could wear a bracelet that represents gratitude. “We were off on our quest to find the perfect piece of jewelry, but nothing out there spoke to us,” said Cheryl. Kim knew of someone that might be able to make them a bracelet and doors began to open that they never imagined.

“We met two women that we worked with for over 4 months and had nothing physically to show for our efforts. In the middle of working with them another door opened and someone offered for us to be introduced to a jewelry designer named Jessica Fields. When our first road came to an end we decided maybe the other road we had been offered might be worth pursuing. Jessica was exactly what we were looking for. We shared our vision and our story. We wanted jewelry that was beautiful and actually something you would want to wear and give as a gift. However, we also something that would have meaning; one that would say to a recipient, ‘we are grateful for what you do’ and for the wearer it would say, ‘remember to be grateful.’”

A new business was born out of the search for the perfect reminder and Wavelet Productions LLC with its Waves of Gratitude jewelry, apparel and online community was launched. The entrepreneurial spirit with which these women approached unemployment is an option that some people just don’t dare to choose when faced with job loss, divorce, or any other new or unforeseen situation.

“We are flooded daily with negative information from our employers, the media, rude drivers and other unhappy, angry people,” added Cheryl. “The jewelry, and the whole business we’ve created, is meant to remind us that we have a choice to not react in the same way when in a similar situation. We can choose to be grateful we’re not experience whatever it is that is making them so unhappy.”

The company was founded on the premise that there is something to be grateful for in every situation and in each day.

Giving Back

Waves of Gratitude will be giving a percentage of all sales to carefully chosen charities and causes. “We are going to have one cause each quarter as our focus,” said Kim. “For example in one quarter our cause will be wellness. One month may be focused on cancer but we will represent the positive statistics related to cancer survival.”

There is good news and much to be grateful for in the quest for more wellness. Almost 80% of women aged between 50 and 69 will survive at least 10 years beyond treatment for breast cancer today, while data from the early 1990s shows just 59% of women in that age group survived for 10 years after a breast cancer diagnosis.

“If we can focus our energy on the positive progress and fight for the cure rather the against what is wrong, we can create a shift of energy,” added Carrin. “This approach can be taken to any situation we are presented.”

Our other causes the Wavelet women plan to celebrate with gratitude are heroes such as firefighters, soldiers, policeman, and other everyday heroes. They also plan to show their gratitude for all they have and what the future holds by supporting the environment, underprivileged children and education.

One of the jewelry pieces created is being called "Branches of Hope" and it is meant to symbolize survival. “Every woman has survived something,” Cheryl adds. “It could be an illness, loss of a loved one, divorce, or a move – and sometimes all of those at once! For anyone that has displayed courage or strength this is a great gift to say, ‘I am proud of you; you made it.’ For you, it is a reminder that as the seasons sometimes weather a tree, it is those same seasons that bring out its true strength and inner beauty. It says that no matter how life has been there is hope for how life can be. The seeds of hope lie within us the same way they were in the tree before it became the symbol of strength it is today.”

Wavesofgratitude.com will also have a blogging section and serve as a social network where visitors can write their own gratitude stories and send pictures of those to which they have given the jewelry or pictures of them wearing it and telling what it is that has them feeling grateful.

Giving hope to the other millions of people who will find themselves unemployed or underemployed this year, the Waves of Gratitude founders hope to reach 6 million people by June of 2009 and send a message that their focus on gratitude can shift not only their own lives but the lives of those around us. “We cannot control the world, but we can control how we choose to live our own lives. We chose to live in gratitude.”